


First Day / Last Day

by NorthernStar



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Aliens Ate My Colleague, F/M, M/M, Pre-Series, Rough Sex, Self-distructive Owen, Team Dynamics - Torchwood Style, black humour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 07:36:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorthernStar/pseuds/NorthernStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Tosh's first day at Torchwood, and that means it was once someone's last day...</p><p>Written July 2008 and canon has since made this AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Day / Last Day

  


**FIRST DAY**

"Ready?"

Before Tosh could reply the ground beneath her feet gave way. She let out a squeal and grabbed at the man beside her.  Jack laughed and flashed her a smile – the very same smile that had got her agreeing to join his team without even really thinking about it.

The pavement disappeared and she was suddenly aware of air surrounding her, above and below. She shut her eyes.

"I don't suppose this is a good time to mention I hate heights?"

Jack chuckled again, but at least he held her tighter.

There was finally a soft jolt and Jack told her to open her eyes.

Tosh peeked first just to make sure they were on the ground, and then opened them fully, taking in the Hub, with its mix of Victorian brickwork and computer terminals.

Jack smiled, obviously waiting to soak up her awe.

"Please tell me you have a back door."

He sighed, probably disappointed. "There's a back door." He dutifully repeated.

Tosh looked dubious.

"Really." He confirmed. "This is just the entrance for newbies. And tourists."

"Jack likes to show off," a voice behind them commented.

Tosh turned to see a woman with hastily tied up hair.

"Susie Costello, this is Toshiko Sato. Susie's my second-in-command."

Tosh held out her hand, "nice to-"

The woman just ignored her. "You filled Gamma's position already?" She snapped at Jack. "His seat isn't even cold! Ianto's still sweeping up the mess."

Jack looked up. "Ianto?" He called out.

A young man stepped out from behind the racks.  "Just finished filing the last of his belongings, sir."

Jack waved his hand in introduction.  "Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones."

Ianto at least gave her a polite hello.

Jack led her to her new desk, which was uber neat and arranged _just-so_. She automatically reached out to adjust the keyboard, making it slightly off kilter.  Underneath was a scattering of crumbs.

Ianto suddenly had a dustpan and brush in his hands and was sweeping them up. "Sorry." He said.  "I must have missed some."

"You won't have to worry about crumbs with me." Tosh said, trying to attempt conversation. "I don't eat biscuits."

"Neither did Gamma." Jack said darkly. "They're not biscuit crumbs. They're…Gamma crumbs."

Tosh frowned. "I don't…Oh! You mean…?"

Ianto swept up the last little bits. "I think that's the last of it…him. Shall I put these in a cryo locker, sir?"

"Stick him in a jar and put him in with Billars." Jack said. "Saves on space."

"They hated each other." Ianto pointed out.

"They're dead. They won't object."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."  Susie muttered.

Toshiko sat gingerly on the chair and wondered if now would be a good time to make a run for the door.

Footsteps sounded and she looked up to see another young man.

"You could have at least given me some warning. I do have other things to do," he was moaning.

Jack did more introducing. "Tosh, Owen Harper."

He stopped in front of her. "All right, get ya clothes off."

"Excuse me?" Tosh gasped.

"Ten seconds." Ianto muttered.

"Owen's our doctor." Jack explained. "You'll need a full medical. For the records, in case…" He trailed off.

"I end up as crumbs." Tosh finished, feeling a little queasy.

"Exactly." He turned, "and Owen, clothes stay _on_."

Owen gave Jack a shit eating grin and winked at Tosh. She felt her cheeks go warm.

 

 

Owen had nice hands, warm and supple, and he smelled gorgeous. The doctor obviously liked expensive cologne and she distracted herself by trying to catalogue all the subtle notes in the scent – musk, cedar wood, lotus flower. He was surprisingly gentle, even when drawing blood. But he was also ignoring her, keeping up a conversation with Jack about "weevil containment" as if she wasn't even there.

The first time he spoke to her it was to say, "done."

She got up. Owen began putting his instruments away.

She watched his back. "Don't I get a lollipop?"

He gave her a look.

"Right." She started up the steps.

"Just…"

She stopped at his voice.

He looked up at her. "Stay away from pizza."

"Pizza?"

"It wasn't the pizza that killed him, Owen."

Tosh jumped. She had forgotten Jack was still there, leaning over the rails.

"Well, if he'd've listened to me and not had it, he'd still be alive, wouldn't he?" Owen snapped back, sitting down at his computer. He began typing, jabbing at the keys.

Jack steered her out.

"What's a weevil?" She asked.

 

 

Tosh stared at the alien. It bared its teeth at her.

Jack didn't smile. "That's a weevil."

"Oh…"

 

 

Back at her desk, she poked through the files her predecessor had written, including several that ended mid-sentence as if the man had stopped for lunch or coffee, intending to finish it later. Only he never had the chance.

It was unsettling.

She called up his file and read through the sparse information before staring at his picture. He looked young and pretty, no more than 25 but there was a hardness in his eyes, the same sort of bleak anger she'd seen in Owen's and Susie's, even Jack's that made him seem older.

She wondered with a shudder if her eyes would be like that too, given enough time.

A hand reached down and banged a key, removing the file from the screen. "He's dead. Case closed."  Owen's voice snapped. "If you want something to do, ask Susie."

Tosh stared after Owen.

"Owen's a twat." Susie told her, but Tosh noticed that the woman's eyes followed Owen out the room.  "But he's right. Leave Gamma's files alone."

"Did he really die because he ate pizza?"

Susie didn't answer.

"He died of tape worm." Jack's voice.

Tosh turned. Jack was watching her.

"Tape worm?"

"Alien tape worm."

"They ate him." Susie said simply.  "From the inside out."

"Oh."

 

 

Jack showed her guns after that. At least that was what he said it was, but his hands wandered and he stood entirely too close. "Testing her comfort zones" he explained when she called him on it. But it still felt like being felt up by the boss.

They went hunting after dark so Tosh could try out her new skills, but it was quiet night and only thing they found was an abnormally large fox. And even that escaped, with a chunk of Tosh's hair in its teeth.

Owen had silently patched her up with those hands of his, speaking to her only once and that was to mutter something about newbies under his breath.

She stayed in the medical room, sitting on the bed.

"Ignore Owen." Tosh jumped at the sound. Susie was leaning on the rails. "You'll learn how. It's a talent we all pick up."

"I don't think he likes me very much,"

"Owen doesn't like anyone very much.  Not even himself."

She looked at her bandaged hands. "This isn't what I imagined."

"Nothing ever is."

 

 

Supper was brought in by Ianto. It was pizza, which made Owen walk out, muttering. Jack gave Ianto a look but the young man's face remained completely neutral.

Tosh nibbled the slice Ianto had placed at her station. She wasn't sure why they were all still here so late. Didn't they have homes to go to? But she knew she wouldn't be the one to go first, so she pretended to organise her new files and tried not to think of her predecessor.

A key brought up the internal CCTV and she found herself looking at an image of the cryo chamber. Movement caught her eye and she zoomed in.

Owen.

Silently cursing the compulsion she didn't understand, Tosh got up and walked down there, trying to remember the plans Jack had emailed her. Directions were not one of her strong points but she surprised herself by finding the way fairly quickly.

The cryo chamber was huge, larger than the main hub, but it wasn't as cold as she'd expected.

Owen was in front of the lockers, just staring at them. Then he yelled "stupid fucker!" at it and turned.

He stopped dead when he saw Tosh and she jumped, gapping a bit, mouth flapping.

"I…er…"

But he simply stalked passed her.

She stood there for a long while, cheeks blazing.

Then curiosity eventually got the better of her and she walked to where Owen was standing.

The locker said "Billars, Peter" and underneath, in neat block letters, someone had put "+ Gamma, Martin (remains of)."

She heard soft footfalls behind her. Owen, she guessed.

"I'm sorry." She said, without turning. "I didn't mean to intrude."

Silence.

She turned. "Owen?"

Susie Costello stood in the doorway.

"I thought-"

"Owen…knew…Gamma," she interrupted, "if you get my meaning."

"Oh." She looked at her feet, feeling foolish. She was saying that a lot lately. "You mean, he's…"

"Gay?" Susie smiled, more to herself than to Tosh. "No. Owen just…has his own way of welcoming people to the team.  We all do."

Tosh felt a rush run through her, almost drowning out Susie's words.

"Jack'll feel you up." She told her. "Ianto will have your favourite coffee figured out just by looking at you, even if you don't have a favourite coffee."  She paused. "And Owen'll sleep with you."

"What about you?"

Her eyes remained blank. "I pretend to care."

 

 

  


**LAST DAY**

Ianto Jones carefully placed the cup of coffee at Gamma's elbow. The artefact he was studying began to hum and Gamma frowned, picking up the coffee and moving it back and forth. The sound increased the closer the coffee got.

"Whatever this thing is, it likes Ianto's coffee."

Jack threw him a grin. "Doesn't everyone?"

Ianto didn't react to the praise. He laid a filled hypodermic syringe between Gamma's fingers on the keypad. The Tech sniffed, which was as close as he ever came to saying thanks, and shot the insulin into his vein before taking a sip of coffee.

"Suze, hand me some of that pizza!"

Susie plunked a slice of pizza down and Gamma's hand left the keys.

"Diabetes!" Owen snapped as he came over.

"Alien diabetes. You said yourself, this time next week, I'll be fine."

The artefact suddenly let out a whine as the pizza slice travelled through the air in Gamma's hand, growing louder the closer it got then fading away once it had passed. He waved it about over the artefact, amused at the different sounds it was making.

Owen made a grab for the slice. "Then eat the pizza next week."

"Fuck off, Owen!" Gamma said, and bit into it.

The artefact shattered, spewing shards all over the pizza.

"Good." Owen said.

Gamma brushed the bits off and took a bite.  He chewed open mouthed in Owen's direction.

Ianto rolled his eyes.

Owen sighed, "wanker!" He muttered, and strode off.

Gamma picked up a large shard of the artefact.  So much for study.

 

 

Two hours later, Gamma began to feel sick, like he'd eaten a huge meal and his stomach was fit to burst. Owen had given him a long, vicious lecture about diabetics until Gamma had "persuaded" him to stop. With his fist.

But then the pain began.

At first Owen was un-sympathetic and mean.  When sympathy kicked in, Gamma began to worry.

An old fashioned x-ray revealed a mass of worms in Gamma's gut. Which led to everyone being x-rayed, but fortunately, they were clear. It didn't take them long to come up with a theory and scans of the left over pizza confirmed it – the "artefact" had been a sort of egg of eggs. When it shattered, Gamma ate them. They hatched and now they were eating him.

Owen stuck him with every chemical in the book, even the ones used only by vets. But nothing affected the worms; it didn't even slow them down. They were growing…and multiplying.

Surgical removal was the only option.

None of anaesthesia worked and Owen was forced to give him an epidural and remove the worms while Gamma was still conscious. And then repair his intestines - what was left of his intestines.

About half an hour into the procedure, the epidural wore off and no amount of top-up would help. The walls of Torchwood rang with Gamma's screams.

Ianto gave everyone earplugs.

They didn't work.

It took all night.

When it was over, two things happened.  Gamma called his mother, who he hadn't spoken to for seven years.  And Owen got drunk. Very drunk.

The x-ray in the morning revealed the things had grown back. Owen must have missed a small segment and that was all the thing needed to regenerate and multiply. Owen removed them again, but this time there was very little of man's intestines left to patch up. All his major organs were damaged, ripped to barely functioning shreds and the rate in which he was being eaten was increasing.

Owen finally admitted it. "There's nothing I can do."

Gamma closed his eyes. He lay for a long time.

"How long?"

Owen didn't answer.

"Hours?"

The doctor nodded.

Gamma lapsed into silence.

"Help me up." He said finally.

Owen supported his shoulders until he was sitting.

Gamma clutched at Owen's T-shirt. "Pump me full of whatever it takes to keep me going." He told him.  "Like that alien juice we found."

"It'll kill you."

"So I die a few hours earlier." He looked at Owen. "If I'm going, then I want to do something better than just lie here and take it."

Owen nodded and opened a drawer. He took out a box, tapped in a code and opened it.

Inside was a bottle.

He took a syringe, filled it from the bottle then turned to Gamma.

The Tech held out his arm.

Owen thought he could see a slight wriggling beneath the skin, as the worms curled themselves around Gamma's muscles. He pushed the needle in.

"What are you going to do?"

Gamma sighed as the pain receeded.  "Screw your brains out."

 

 

The wall was damp beneath his hands. They should probably go home and do this, but somehow the dark and grimy surroundings suited the mood. They didn't have much time.  The concoction of drugs would wear off soon.

Gamma was pressed against Owen back. The doctor could feel the heat of the man's naked hardness against his thigh. Gamma groaned and Owen wondered if the alien juice had worn off and he was in pain again. Gamma shifted, nudging his cock between Owen's buttocks.

Owen twisted away. "No," he ground out. "Don't know if this can spread."

Gamma bit the back of his neck in protest.  Hands slid up Owen's belly, stroking, toying with his nipples.

"Jeans." Owen gasped. "Back pocket."

He felt rather than saw Gamma fumbling with the fabric bundled around Owen's ankles.

Owen closed his eyes as the sound of the condom wrapper being opened and chuckled nastily. Durex – preventors of pregnancy, STD's and alien worm infestations.

Then he felt fingers pawing at his opening, ready to stretch him.

He reached back, gripping Gamma's wrist.  "Don't."

Gamma's other hand stroked his belly.  "You're tight."

"So?"

"You'll bleed."

"I want to."

Gamma growled, sounding almost feral. Then he took Owen's hips between his spread hands, pulling him back as he shoved roughly inside him. Owen bit down on his lip, stifling a moan as his gut cramped, protesting the invasion. He bit harder as Gamma began to thrust; closing his eyes to the pain, but that only brought the image of his own hands pulling worms from Gamma's innards as the man howled in agony.

Owen forced his eyes open. Bit harder, until he could taste blood.

Gamma might scream. He wasn't about too.

But despite himself, whimpers of pain occasionally escaped. From the sighs and gunts Gamma made, he mistook the sounds for pleasure. Or perhaps he didn't care.

You wouldn't, would you? Owen decided.  If you were going to die and this was to be your last fuck.  Ever.

Pretty soon the insistent pressure on his prostate made him hard, despite the pain, but he didn't reach down to touch himself to relieve the ache or take the edge from the agony.

He didn't want the pleasure to take away the pain.

But it came anyway, when his body tore and his blood eased the brutal fucking. His mouth fell open and he pushed himself back onto Gamma.

It took forever. It ended too soon.

Gamma slumped against Owen, breathing hard.  From the rattling sound coming from his chest, Owen guessed that the worms were now eating away at his lungs.

Gamma's chin rested on Owen's shoulder and Owen felt the man's hand snake around to grip his aching cock.  For a moment, Owen closed his eyes as finally, there was nothing but pleasure coiling inside him. Then he went to push Gamma away, but it was a token protest and the man held him firm and continued stroking his foreskin back and forth, applying just the right amount of pressure at just the right speed. Owen muttered an oath as he came, spilling over Gamma's hand.

A long moment passed. Then Owen pushed him off, wincing when the man's softened cock pulled out of him and turned around.

Gamma removed the bloodied condom and shoved it in his pocket. Owen's lip curled in disgust. Gamma reached up and laid a hand on Owen's cheek, pulling him in for a kiss.

Owen shoved him away, pulled up his jeans and walked painfully out.

 

 

Owen cleaned himself up in the autopsy room.  He wondered if Gamma would use the same "fuck me before I die" line on the others too. He'd imagine Jack going for it.

Screaming interrupted his thoughts and he ran up the steps into the main Hub.

Gamma was on ground next to his station, cradled in Jack's arms, writhing in pain. His skin was rippling, like bubbles under the surface. Jack backed away when Owen skidded to a halt beside him, giving them room. Owen laid a hand against the pulse in Gamma's neck. The beat was irregular, slow one moment, wild the next. He grabbed at his medical bag for another dose of drugs.

Jack's voice snapped out. "Move away, Owen!"

Owen looked around. Jack was holding a gun. Gamma nodded frantically, clawing at Owen, trying to push his away.

Owen stepped back.

"You can't be serious." Ianto objected.

"It's better this way."

But before Jack could pull the trigger, Gamma screamed and exploded in a shower of tiny pieces. Everyone jumped back in horror as his clothes sank down, still writhing, full of fat segmented worms. They lashed about, trying to hook another victim.

Jack threw something on the pile and then produced a lighter. He lit it and tossed that on too.

Flames engulfed the mass with a soft "whump", burning quickly and brightly.

They watched until the fire began to die and they continued to watch until there was nothing left but smouldering cinders.

Jack knelt down. "Ashes to ashes."

 

-End-

 


End file.
